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Sunday, October 04, 2020

10/04 Links: Melanie Phillips: Trivializing the true evil of Nazism; PA hoping for Biden victory to reverse Trump’s Mid-East policies, says Erekat; Can we turn Khartoum's 'three nos' into 'three yeses'?

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Trivializing the true evil of Nazism
It’s the Democrats who happily associate themselves with the immensely influential former Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who calls the Jews “satanic” and blood-suckers,” and claims they have wrapped their “tentacles” round the U.S. government.

If there’s one characteristic common to left-wing ideologies, it is hatred. Left-wing ideologues hate and try to destroy anyone who challenges their dogma.

Trump has been the victim of this hatred. Its’s so strong that he has been subjected to an unprecedented three-year attempt to lever him out of office through an unsubstantiated smear campaign involving an abuse of due process by officials, the Democratic Party and the media.

Shocking as all this is, however, the second factor involved in this attack on Trump is worse. It is the use of Nazism as a casual smear.

It equates what Trump has done with the rise of Nazism. Since Trump is clearly not aiming to wipe out the Jews, nor create a totalitarian dictatorship, nor attempt the invasion and subjugation of the world, the conclusion must be that the Jewish Democratic Council of America is downgrading Nazism in order to make a below-the-belt partisan attack.

The ad speaks of stopping hatred. But as Ruth Wisse observes in her essay in National Interest, Nazism was not defined by hatred but was instead the organization of politics against the Jews. “The politics of grievance and blame may indeed foment hatred, distrust, envy, rage, fear and violence, but it is primarily a political instrument for gaining, wielding, and extending power,” she writes.

So this ad misrepresents and trivializes the true evil of Nazism—in order to promote baseless hatred against an individual, not just to oppose but to destroy him.

Blinded by hatred of Trump, his enemies rush to paint him as a Nazi while evacuating actual Nazism of its meaning and turning it into an empty political smear. This is to betray the memory of all who were murdered in the Holocaust or who gave their lives in the war to stop Hitler.

And not only is Joe Biden guilty of this moral bankruptcy, but the Jewish Democratic Council of America—and the wider community of liberal Jews who are silently nodding assent to this disgusting spectacle.

It’s not just the victims of the Shoah they are betraying here, but once again the core ethical values of Judaism itself.
Caroline Glick on President Trump having covid, the debate and the impact on the elections

Col. Richard Kemp: A Few Global Concerns that Affect Us All
Now, I believe, the US is taking measures to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from dominating the world, stealing American secrets, further imposing their system on the US and benefiting from US trade in a way that they do not allow the US to benefit.... People realize this is an evil, dark regime that many people have been deluded about for many years. People are now realizing their error.... I only hope that we, in Britain, in Europe, and in the US and other countries, are able to do that more in earnest.

Another thing that is coming into question is that we -- in my view foolishly -- have plans to allow China to construct a series of nuclear power stations in Britain. We hope that Britain will review these plans and stop them from happening.

The situation with Lebanon and Hizbollah is all tied up with Iran. Hezbollah is a creation of Iran, directed by Iran and funded by Iran. It is basically an extension of the Ayatollah's right arm.... If the current US administration were to lose the election, there would probably be a policy similar to what the previous administration had, with every effort made, probably, to try and resurrect the nuclear deal. This action would certainly help enable Iran to have nuclear weapons.

The ICC are also trying to investigate Britain for war crimes in Iraq -- as well as the US for war crimes in Afghanistan. Of course, it is the usual three suspects, Britain, US, and Israel, they firmly have in their sights.... The International Criminal Court is no longer a legal body. It is now a political body. It has turned itself into something it was never intended to be.


PMW: PA Official Daily: Trump's Coronavirus may be fabrication to gain sympathy and avoid debating Biden
Mahmoud Abbas’ official PA daily ran a front page editorial with the headline “Trump's ‎Corona - False Claims and expectations.” The editorial says that if the claim is true that ‎Trump is deceiving the American people, it is because Trump wants to gain sympathy ‎of the American voters and to avoid future debates with Democratic challenger Joe ‎Biden. The fact that Trump’s infection was announced shortly after his debate with ‎Biden “which Trump turned into the worst debate in history” makes it logical that Trump ‎wants to avoid future debates by feigning illness, says the PA daily.‎

The PA editorial adds that if Trump is sick, possibly the illness will cause him to “re-‎examine the erroneous and aggressive policies towards humanity… while he fuels ‎racist extremist ideas, and sides with falsehood against truth.”‎

After insulting the US president repeatedly, the editorial ends on a more conciliatory ‎note, adding:

“whether or not the U.S. president has caught Corona virus, we will not ‎analyze this news based on wishful thinking. Corona virus is a disease that we do not ‎wish for the creatures of Allah wherever they are, and we pray for the speedy recovery ‎of all those infected‏.‏‎”‎ [Al-Hayat al-Jadida, Oct. 4, 2020]‎

Also on a conciliatory note, on the same page the PA daily published that: “the ‎Secretary of the PLO Executive Committee, Saeb Erekat, told CNN that President ‎Mahmoud Abbas wishes US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania a speedy ‎and full recovery‏.‏‎”‎ [Al-Hayat al-Jadida, Oct. 4, 2020]‎

The statement about “wishful thinking” is possibly a reference to the fact that the PA ‎has already made it clear they are hoping for a Joe Biden election victory that will ‎completely change US policy and end the US peace proposal. Saeb Erekat in a recent ‎interview made this very clear:‎ ‎“You [the UAE and Bahrain] believe [Jared] Kushner, who is a kind of mixture of ‎ignorance and illiteracy – together with [US Ambassador David] Friedman – and ‎spite and racism… I’m certain that if [Joe] Biden or any other president rises ‎‎[to power], the first thing that person will do is to declare that the [Trump’s] ‎deal of the century is off the table, because they have issued statements. ‎There is a proposed resolution 326 of the American Congress. 226 ‎members of Congress voted against the deal of the century and said that it ‎cannot bring peace. They voted in favor of the Palestinians’ right of self-‎determination, in favor of the State of Palestine and all these matters, and voted ‎against closing the American consulate in East Jerusalem and against closing ‎the PLO office [in Washington].” ‎ [Official PA TV, Sept. 15, 2020]‎


PA hoping for Biden victory to reverse Trump’s Mid-East policies, says Erekat



Xi Jingping Wishes Trump 'Speedy Recovery' After Propaganda Chief Said President 'Paid The Price' For Downplaying Coronavirus
Chinese President Xi Jinping wished President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump “a speedy recovery” after a Chinese propaganda chief said Trump “paid the price” for downplaying COVID-19.

Trump announced that he and the first lady tested positive for coronavirus early on Oct. 2. Hop Hicks, a top adviser to Trump, tested positive on Wednesday after she traveling with the president, ABC News reported. (RELATED: Trump Boards Marine One, Heads To Walter Reed Hospital ‘Out Of An Abundance Of Caution’)

“In a message to Trump, Xi said that learning President Trump and Melania have tested positive for COVID-19, he and his wife, Peng Liyuan, extend sympathy to them and wish them a speedy recovery,” China Xinhua News, a state-controlled publication, tweeted.

Xi’s message comes after Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the China-controlled Global Times, said in a now-deleted tweet: “President Trump and the first lady have paid the price for his gamble to play down the COVID-19. The news shows the severity of the US’ pandemic situation.”

“It will impose a negative impact on the image of Trump and the US, and may also negatively affect his reelection,” he continued.

Relations between the U.S. and China have plummeted in recent years as the two nations have squabbled over a variety of issues, including trade and security, according to The Associated Press.
Can we turn Khartoum's 'three nos' into 'three yeses'?
Shortly after Israel had routed the combined military forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan in the Six Day War in June 1967, eight Arab heads of state - kings, emirs and presidents - attended a summit conference in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital city. Notably absent was Hafez Assad, the president of Syria who, to use the epithet attributed to Winston Churchill, favored “war, war” rather than “jaw, jaw.”

The Khartoum conference established formal Arab policy in relation to Israel that was to last for more than half a century. It boiled down to what has become known as “the three nos:” No peace with Israel; No recognition of Israel; No negotiations with Israel.

Although these three statements of principle were, in the event, honored more in the breach than in the observance, they remained the recognized pillars of Arab policy toward Israel until, Samson-like, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, using their combined might, pulled them down on August 13, bringing the whole policy edifice tumbling about their ears.

The agreements signed on the White House lawn on September 15 acknowledged, above all, the political realities of the current Middle East. The name for the deal, The Abraham Accords, was agreed between all parties – the Christian president of the US, the Muslim leaders of the UAE and Bahrain, and the Jewish prime minister of Israel. That name set the tone for its hopes and intentions.

For decades Iran, al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Hezbollah – together with a host of often competing jihadist groups – have promulgated doctrines of Jew and Christian hatred, and non-tolerance of any Islamic belief other than the particular version favored by that body. Blood galore, including vast quantities of Muslim blood, have been spilled in pursuit of it.

At the signing ceremony the UAE foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, speaking in Arabic to the Muslim world, declared that the prophet Mohamed, a descendant of Abraham, honored Jews and Christians as believers in the one God of Abraham. By emphasizing this common heritage, The Abraham Accords provide the Middle East with a positive alternative to the negativity and hatred promulgated by Iran and the other Islamist extremists. Jews and Christians, who share with the Muslim world the inheritance of Abraham, also have a rightful place in the Middle East.
Establishing ties with Israel is in our interest - top Sudanese official
Sudan ascribes great importance to establishing ties with Israel so that it can be removed from the United States’ terror list, deputy chairman of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has told TV station Sudania 24.

Dagalo is known for his support of Sudan-Israeli ties and his interview came on the day he met with Donald Booth, the US’s special envoy to Sudan.

Dagalo later tweeted that the two had discussed the removal of Sudan from the US list of terrorism sponsors.

“Establishing ties with Israel is a Sudanese interest,” Dagalo said, according to a report on the interview in Israel Hayom. “Our removal from the list of state sponsors of terror depends on it,” he added. The two issues have been linked, but apart from Dagalo, other officials in Sudan have sought to keep them separate.

Sudan does not want to link its removal the US list that is hindering the African state’s access to foreign funding with the normalization of relations with Israel, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said last week.

Sources said that US officials indicated in talks with a Sudanese delegation they wanted Khartoum to follow the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and establish ties with Israel.
Bipartisan bill would give Israel a veto on Middle East arms sales
A bipartisan bill introduced in the House of Representatives would enhance protections for Israel’s qualitative military edge to include an effective Israeli veto on US arms sales to the Middle East.

The bill “would require the President to consult with the Israeli government to ensure [qualitative military edge] concerns are settled” when it comes to arms sales to Middle Eastern countries, said the news release Friday announcing its introduction the previous day. The release came from the office of the bill’s lead sponsor, Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill.

Existing law already guarantees Israel a qualitative military edge in the Middle East, but Congress — not Israel — is the arbiter of whether an arms sale meets QME standards.

Most of the sponsors are Democrats, including a number of Jewish lawmakers, among them Schneider, Elaine Luria of Virginia, Max Rose of New York, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, and Ted Deutch and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida.
Israel says Lebanon talks to only be on maritime, not land borders
Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, set to begin next week, will only be on maritime borders, a diplomatic source in Jerusalem said on Sunday, despite indications to the contrary from Washington and Beirut.

Though disputes about the Blue Line, as the land border between Israel and Lebanon is known, came up in pre-negotiation talks, Israel did not agree to negotiate land borders.

Israel does not rule out Blue Line negotiations, but they would have to be separate, and different people would be involved. The Energy Ministry is deeply involved in the maritime border talks, because there is natural gas in that part of the Mediterranean, which both sides want to develop.

Israel and Lebanon officially announced on Thursday that they had agreed to hold US-mediated negotiations on their maritime border, to be held at the headquarters of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Naquora, on the Israel-Lebanon border. The “negotiations about negotiations,” as the Israeli diplomatic source called it, took more than two years.

The talks, set to begin next week, will be the first-ever direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon on civilian matters. Israeli officials are optimistic that the dispute over 860 sq. km. in the Eastern Mediterranean near Israel’s natural gas fields, which one described as a “pizza-slice-shaped” area beginning from Rosh Hanikra, can be resolved and will contribute to regional stability.
Arrest Sheds New Light on Joint Hezbollah/Quds Force Terror Unit
Israel’s intelligence community recently shed light on a terrorism unit that is jointly run by Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Iranian overseas Quds Force. A long-running intelligence investigation has revealed details about the working methods employed by both of these terrorist entities in their common efforts to kill and maim Israelis.

Israel’s Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency, together with the Israel Police, announced on September 17 that they had uncovered a plot by the joint unit, aimed at recruiting Israeli Arabs and Palestinians for terror attacks inside Israel.

The investigation resulted in the arrest of a Palestinian woman, Yasmin Jabar, a resident of the Old City in Jerusalem, who had been working at Hebrew University’s National Library in Jerusalem. According to a senior Shin Bet source, the investigation honed in on suspected operatives that were recruited by Hezbollah, and in the process, also uncovered cell activities in Turkey.

The investigation is part of a wider Israeli effort to thwart Iranian and Hezbollah terrorism and espionage rings, “including those that originate in the Turkish arena, and to expose all of the elements in Israel and Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] that assist in this,” the source said.

Hezbollah is notorious for its large-scale arsenal of surface-to-surface projectiles, estimated at around 170,000 rockets and missiles. The Iranian Quds Force is the main armorer of the organization, and is funding it to the tune of $700 million a year.

But in addition to building up its rocket and missile arsenal, Hezbollah is also busy with multiple efforts to recruit and dispatch terror cells to attack Israelis, both inside Israel and around the world. The Quds Force, whose commander Qassem Soleimani was assassinated in Baghdad by a US drone strike last January, and is now led by his former deputy, Esmail Ghaani, continues to be Hezbollah’s partner in this endeavor.
Fatah-Hamas: A Bloody History of Reconciliations
Fatah’s Plan To Take Back the Strip

Then, a reconciliation agreement was signed on April 23, 2014. The deal called for a unity government to be formed within five weeks, and elections for president and the legislature to be held within six months. But the Hamas kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers and Israel’s subsequent Operation Protective Edge put this on hold.

This round of reconciliation talks ultimately collapsed in 2016, when Fatah leaders began demanding that Hamas relinquish its control of the Gaza Strip and rumors began to circulate about a Fatah plan to take the Strip back by force.

In October 2017, other Arab countries inserted themselves into the unity efforts. The United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Egypt forced the two sides to sign an agreement giving Fatah full civilian control of Gaza in exchange for assisting Hamas with its economic crisis due to the blockade, including the opening of the Rafah border crossing.

Israel’s Opposition To Fatah-Hamas Reconciliation Israel is vehemently opposed to any cooperation between the PA and Hamas. In April 2011 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “the PA must choose either peace with Israel or peace with Hamas. There is no possibility for peace with both.” The United States and European Union are also against any reconciliation.

Meanwhile US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, which the Palestinians have rejected, has pushed them further away from Israel and towards Hamas in a common struggle against Israel.

So will this reconciliation rumor lead Fatah to reject its recognition of Israel? Will the changing environment in the Middle East cause Hamas to do an about face and recognize Israel?

Or, will the latest Fatah-Hamas reconciliation attempt lead to nothing at all?


EU Still Siding with the "World's Worst Human Rights Abuser"
"One day, I heard screams, shouting, and pleas for help in the police department.... I witnessed two officers who were dressed in unofficial uniform cursing and hitting Navid with batons and metal pipes with no mercy. They would tell him: 'the truth is whatever we say, will you write what we are saying or not?' Navid was... begging: 'please, stop, please don't hit me, I didn't do anything.' He covered his head with his arms. And one of the officers, whose name I later learned was Abbasi, hit Navid with such strength that Navid let out a gut-wrenching scream and fell unconscious". — Witness to the torture of Iran's wrestling champion, Navid Afkari, who was reportedly tortured into a false confession, then hanged.

Iran's leaders most likely wanted to make an example of the highly respected wrestler, to impose fear in society, and send a strong message to the people that anyone who dares to protest can face severe consequences.

Did they hear about the four teenagers who will have their fingers amputated as a punishment for stealing, also, according to them, after being tortured until they "confessed"?

The European Union, in empowering a regime that is torturing and executing protesters and political prisoners, is making itself complicit in these crimes against humanity. Instead, the EU needs immediately to join the US in putting pressure on the mullahs and holding them accountable.
Iran busts sanctions by using other nations to get WMD - German intel
The Islamic Republic of Iran has sought to disrupt sanctions imposed on its effort to secure illicit weapons of mass destruction technology by using third party countries to transport the material, The Jerusalem Post can reveal on Friday.

The German state of Hesse reported in its new intelligence report on Friday that "in particular, states such as Iran, North Korea, Pakistan and Syria tried to acquire and distribute such weapons as part of the proliferation, for example, by concealing the transport routes via third countries. The aim of such intelligence measures was to circumvent control mechanisms over third countries that are not subject to special embargo regulations.”

The Post reviewed the 384-page intelligence report in connection with all references to the Iranian regime threat. The Hesse intelligence document covers the year 2019 and outlines the most pressing security threats faced by the state.

The Hesse state intelligence service’s findings confirm the data collection of additional German state intelligence agencies in 2020 that declared Iran's regime continues to seek technology and material to build weapons of mass destruction devices.

The Hesse intelligence agency wrote that it “continued to pay particular attention to attempts at proliferation originating from Iran, North Korea, Pakistan and Syria, i.e. the proliferation or transfer of weapons of mass destruction."
Keith Ellison to speak at Rabin memorial snubbed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Keith Ellison, the Minnesota attorney general and a leader of Democratic Party progressives, will join an Americans for Peace Now memorial event marking the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.

The participation of Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress and the former deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has added significance because Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the freshman New York Democrat emerging as a leader among her party’s progressive wing, withdrew her commitment last week to attend the event.

Ocasio-Cortez had come under pressure from pro-Palestinian advocates who see Rabin as a war criminal for ordering the evacuation of Arab residents of several towns during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence and, as defense minister from 1987 to 1990, ordered brutal measures to repress the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

Hadar Susskind, American for Peace Now’s president, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Ellison was not a replacement for Ocasio-Cortez but was among a number of progressive figures the organization invited to speak. The event, which will take place virtually on October 20, will be hosted by the Jewish actor Mandy Patinkin.


Jamie Harrison's top aides have a long history of anti-semitic and homophobic remarks
South Carolina Democrat Jaime Harrison, whose top campaign aides made anti-Semitic, sexist, and homophobic remarks online, has faulted police departments for failing to vet the social media accounts of prospective officers.

Harrison, who is challenging Republican senator Lindsey Graham, said it would be irresponsible to hire someone without first "digging into" their past public statements.

"Let's make sure we are—before you give somebody a gun and a badge, you're perusing what they put on social media," Harrison said in an October 2019 radio interview. "Digging into their background to find out that they haven't said anything with racial bias or racial hatred. Are we looking at the things they post on social media? Are we looking at who they interact with and how they interact with those folks? All of these things need to be important factors."

Just months before the interview, Harrison hired Bre Maxwell and Guy-Lee King to serve as his campaign's political director and communications director, respectively. Both Maxwell and King repeatedly used homophobic slurs online, with Maxwell tweeting the terms "faggot" and "fag" at least six times from January 2012 to August 2013. Harrison, who did not respond to a request for comment, told the State that the matter "would be handled internally," adding that his staff's language "has no place in our state."

Maxwell also criticized the use of the term "ghetto" in a 2012 tweet "because ghetto is a Jewish term and the jewish Americans are wealthy." Two years later, she praised anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. King, meanwhile, routinely made disparaging comments toward women, tweeting, "U ain't to fat n ugly to git raped LMAO!!!!!!" in 2010.
ISIS Removed from Terror List After Leader Adopts Biden’s Views on Antifa: ‘We’re Only an Idea’ (satire)
The US and other western countries have ended their war against the Islamic State after its leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi, declared that ISIS is “not an organization but an ideology.”

“I am not a terrorist or the leader of a terrorist organization,” al-Qurashi explained. “I am just an idea, an ideology, a thought floating through the air, so there’s really no reason to freeze my bank accounts or blow me up with a predator drone.”

The ISIS leader’s explanation came after former Vice President Joe Biden said during Tuesday’s debate that Antifa, a loose collection of Marxist and anarchist groups, does not exist because FBI Director Christopher Wray had previously called it an ideology rather than an organization.

“I never knew that you could get away with dressing in all black and burning down American cities while chanting ‘Death to America’ just by claiming that you’re only an idea,” al-Qurashi told The Mideast Beast. “If only Osama [bin Laden] and Abu Bakr [al-Baghdadi] had known.”
Peace hijacked by boycotts: Redefining the Israel narrative
Although the BDS movement claims to only advocate for non-violent action, the result is often the opposite. As an example, at King’s College, BDS protesters smashed windows and assaulted attendees at an Israel Society lecture. The co-founder of the BDS movement has himself spoken in support of violent attacks on “settlers” (i.e. civilians), calling them “legitimate targets”.

Not by coincidence, last year a record number of antisemitic incidents were recorded in the UK. It is impossible to ignore the relationship between BDS activity and growing antisemitic incidents on campuses.

Despite the unquestionable facts in regard to the violent and antisemitic nature of the BDS movement, it is still being welcomed on campuses across the UK. As an example, earlier this year, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a BDS student group held a protest at King’s College in London. “Israeli Apartheid Week” has been taking place on campuses across the UK since 2005.

Not only is BDS welcomed, the movement still receives funding from governmental bodies. Records from NGO Monitor show that 29 of 100 EU grants administered through EU regional funding programs designated for Israel, the West Bank and Gaza funnel funds to organizations that actively promote BDS, totaling some €16.7 million.

The BDS movement is simply indefensible and its violent antisemitic nature and conduct should disqualify it from any participation in campus life and as a legitimate receiver of taxpayers’ money.

We can be hopeful that the plane landing in Abu Dhabi was the first of many journeys to come, and a new chapter for Israeli relationships with the Gulf countries based on prosperity and peace.

This should also be the time for voices of reason in Europe to reclaim the narrative on Israel, in which we no longer allow extremists to lead the way.
Ariel U. study rejected because author refused to remove 'written in Israel'
The international open-access science journal Molecules canceled the publication of a study by Dr. Mindy Levine from Ariel University after she refused to erase the word "Israel" in the address of the university, according to Israeli activists.

The study was originally meant to be featured in the journal's January 2021 edition. Levine marked the address in the study as "The Department of Chemical Sciences, Ariel University, Ramat HaGolan 65, Ariel, Israel."

A group of chemists from around the world complained to Molecules that Ariel is located in occupied territory and not in Israel. The group is led by Prof. George Smith, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and Prof. Malcolm Levitt, a Fellow of the Royal Society. The group asked the journal to change the address to say "Ariel University, illegal Israeli settlement of Ariel, Occupied Palestinian Territory," according to the "Palestinian No Academic Business as Usual with Ariel University" initiative.

After the complaint was issued, the editors of Molecules asked Levine to remove the word Israel from the address at the head of the study, but Levine refused and the journal cancelled the publication of the study.
NYU adopts IHRA definition of antisemitism, settles antisemitism lawsuit
New York University and the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) reached a landmark settlement over charges of antisemitism on the university’s campus, The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (LDB) announced on Thursday.

Adela Cojab, an NYU graduate, filed the complaint in April 2019 regarding events that took place in 2018.

According to LDB, the settlement requires that NYU’s anti-harassment policy include a “statement of the university’s commitment to academic freedom and free speech.” Additionally, as a result of the settlement, NYU will use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. NYU President Andrew Hamilton will also issue a statement that “antisemitism will not be tolerated, [the university will] conduct town hall meetings on antisemitism and work with NYU student groups to combat antisemitism.”

The IHRA defines antisemitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

Following the settlement, LDB President Alyza Lewin said: “The NYU OCR Resolution Agreement confirms the importance of the executive order. To effectively combat antisemitism, universities must first be able to define and recognize antisemitism in all its forms."
MSNBC Corrects on Settlements, Oslo Accords
CAMERA’s Israel office Friday (Oct. 2) prompted corrections at MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” after a broadcast contained basic factual errors concerning the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the contents of the Oslo Accords.

“The Trump administration has changed geopolitics” in the Middle East, opined MSNBC’s Keir Simmons in the Sept. 28 segment entitled “Trump Looks to Turn Israeli-Arab Accords into Votes.” “But look closely at the facts on the grounds and it’s clear the future president will have to deal with some harsh realities.”

Then, immediately after his call to “look closely at the fact on the ground,” he erred (approximately 4:30 minutes): “Over the past two decades over 600,000 Jewish settlers have built communities in parts of east Jerusalem and the West Bank, land promised to the Palestinians for a future state.”

But those disputed lands were not “promised” to a future Palestinian state, not in the Oslo Accords and not anywhere else with authority to make such promises. Nor did the accords even promise a Palestinian state, much less determine its territories. As Martin Indyk, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel, made clear in a piece for the Atlantic marking the 25th anniversary of the agreements, the Oslo Accords “did not provide for a Palestinian state.” He also re-emphasized that the two-state solution is “a concept that is nowhere mentioned in the Oslo Accords.”

Prominent critics of Israel agree with Indyk. In the New Yorker, Rashid Khalidi wrote, “In Oslo and subsequent accords, the Israelis were careful to exclude provisions that might lead to a Palestinian political entity with actual sovereignty.” Palestinian statehood, he continued “are never mentioned in the text.” Avi Shlaim stated in the Guardian that the Accords “did not promise or even mention an independent Palestinian state at the end of the transition period,” and reiterated in the Journal of Palestine Studies that “The most basic criticism [of the Accords] was that the deal negotiated by Arafat did not carry the promise, let alone a guarantee, of an independent Palestinian state.”
BBC website replaces image after communication from CAMERA UK
On the afternoon of September 30th the BBC News website published a report titled “Coronavirus: Israel passes law to ban mass protests during lockdown” on its ‘Middle East’ page.

The main image originally used to illustrate that report showed a demonstrator holding a placard with a quote allegedly from Thomas Jefferson.


CAMERA UK wrote to the BBC News website pointing out that there is no evidence that Jefferson ever made that statement and suggesting that, in light of the BBC’s self-appointed role as an exposer of disinformation, it was not the best choice of image to illustrate the report.

Although we did not receive a reply, the image was subsequently replaced.


‘Hitler Was Right,’ ‘Free Palestine,’ Among Antisemitic Slogans Daubed on Kosher Burger Joint in Paris
A kosher restaurant in Paris was destroyed overnight on Thursday by vandals who sprayed Nazi swastikas and antisemitic slogans including “Hitler was right” and “Free Palestine” on its floors and walls.

The managers of Mac Queen — a kosher burger joint on rue Manin in the 19th arrondissement of the French capital — were confronted by the damage when they arrived at the premises on Friday morning.

Shocked witnesses counted at least ten swastikas and up to 50 antisemitic slogans on the wall, among them “dirty Jew” and “Thieves!” The symbol of the Nazi SS and the letters “FDP” — belonging to the “Front des Patriotes,” a neo-Nazi group — were also scrawled on walls and tables.

The culprits then deliberately flooded the restaurant by tampering with its water supply.

Images of the destruction on social media brought forth heavy condemnation from Jewish leaders and French politicians.

“In France in 2020, eating in a kosher restaurant is now a danger,” tweeted Noemie Madar, chair of the French Union of Jewish Students (EUJF). “Measures must be taken — and quickly.”

In a separate tweet, the French Jewish representative organization CRIF commented acidly that “antisemitism knows no respite.”
Paris mayor after kosher restaurant vandalized: We will not tolerate this
The probe was opened Friday into "racist degradations," the prosecutors said.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo condemned "with the utmost firmness this hateful act of anti-Semitic vandalism." She expressed on Twitter her "full support" to the Jewish community. "We will not tolerate this," she said.

Prime Minister Jean Castex also tweeted his "solidarity with our Jewish compatriots," saying he shares their "emotion and outrage."

"The Republic will stand united against hatred and will fight against those who promote it," he said.

French police registered 687 anti-Semitic acts last year, from vandalism to threats to physical attacks – a 27% rise from the year before. Reports of anti-Muslim and other racist acts also rose.
Jewish student attacked with shovel outside Hamburg synagogue
A man in military attire carried out a suspected anti-Semitic attack outside a synagogue in Hamburg, German media reported Sunday.

According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily, the suspect attacked a Jewish student with a shovel and injured him before he was overpowered by other congregants and arrested. The congregation was present, as services were held for the Sukkot holiday.

The victim has reportedly been taken to the hospital with a “significant head injury.”

The newspaper called the incident an “anti-Semitic attack,” though it reported that nothing else is known about the attacker. Police told Reuters that the attacker’s motive is unclear.

The incident comes nearly a year after the shooting attack on Yom Kippur in the German city of Halle. After failing to enter the synagogue, the gunman in that incident killed two people at a nearby kebab shop before he was arrested.
Reward Offered for Information on Possible Arson at Chabad Center in Oregon
A civic organization in Oregon said on Friday that it was offering a reward of up to $2,500 for information regarding two separate fires at a Jewish center in Portland in the space of a week.

Crime Stoppers of Oregon said it was asking for the public’s assistance as police continue to search for those responsible for the blazes at the Chabad Center for Jewish Life. The first incident took place just before 11 p.m. on Aug. 14, while the second was reported on Aug. 19 shortly before 3 a.m.

While the first fire was apparently caused by an electrical fault in the building, which dates back to 1929, Portland fire officials remain concerned about the cause of the second fire. No suspects have yet been identified and the police are not presently investigating the fires as a hate crime.

Speaking to local broadcaster KOIN-6, Rabbi Motti Wilhelm of the Chabad Center said that the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which begins on Friday night, would be an opportunity for Portland’s communities to stand united.
NeuroRX on the cusp of releasing a life-saving COVID-19 treatment
The COVID-19 virus has special protein “keys” on its surface that enable it to “unlock” Alveolar Type II cells in the lungs. These are the spikes that make the coronavirus’s “crown.” Once in, these cells stop releasing a fatty substance (pulmonary surfactant) needed to keep healthy lungs from collapsing. This is why patients infected with the virus suffer lung failure and need to be intubated.

“We are so used to thinking of oxygen as a good thing, that we fail to realize it is a difficult gas to work with,” NeuroRX CEO Prof. Jonathan Javitt told The Jerusalem Post. “Oxygen causes rust. In evolutionary terms, when the first life forms left the sea to begin life on land, they had to keep their lungs moist on the inside so that the gas they were breathing would not harm the delicate cells.”

Javitt and his team of scientists have been able to synthesize Aviptadil, a man-made version of human Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide (VIP). This peptide is essential for the healthy operation of Type II cells. Its discovery is a complex and fascinating story involving Middle East politics, Jewish history and how drug companies work.

Due to the pandemic, the FDA allowed Javitt to test Aviptadil in record time – and the results so far have been encouraging. The company will submit statistical data to the FDA this week.

The new drug seems able to block the reproduction of COVID-19, prevent Type II cells death and stimulate the production of white blood cells. These, in turn, secrete chemicals that help protect Type II cells from the novel coronavirus.

Doctors at three different testing sites reported to Javitt that “we’re seeing the X-ray results from patients’ lungs and the results are amazing,” he said.
Mask from Israeli startup Sonovia eliminates over 99% of COVID virus
The SonoMask from Israeli startup Sonovia has been shown 99.34% effective in neutralizing the SARS-COV2 virus within just 30 minutes of exposure in tests conducted by the ATCC Testing Laboratory, the company announced on Saturday.

According to Sonovia, the SonoMask mask maintains its protective properties through more than 55 industrial wash cycles, eliminating the need to frequently replace masks or filters and making it a far more environmentally-friendly PPE solution than traditional disposable gear.

The patented technology from Sonovia is based on a process called cavitation, which involves using specialized machinery to emit sound waves that infuse proprietary chemical formulations into the woven fibers of textiles.

Sonovia is in the process of integrating its anti-bacterial fabric in the sports clothing manufactured by Israeli clothier Delta, three Israeli hospitals are evaluating the company's fabrics for their bedding and uniforms.

CEO Joshua Hershcovici called the latest test results "outstanding" and said they were the result of several months of work.

"We can now assure the public that the SonoMask works continuously and rapidly to neutralize the spread of COVID-19," Hershcovici said.

Sonovia CTO Liat Goldhammer said the startup envisioned its technology "transforming everyday life, implemented in all the textiles that surround us, from the clothes we wear to the textiles in our home, and of course as a protective measure in workplaces and medical institutions."
Gal Gadot named third highest paid actress in the world
Israeli actress Gal Gadot came third on the Forbes list of the highest paid actresses in the world in 2020, with a chunk of the money coming from a Netflix movie rather than the repeatedly delayed “Wonder Woman 1984” film, Forbes magazine said on Friday.

Gadot made $31.5 million, with $20 million of that coming from her fee from the movie “Red Notice,” set to be released later this year by the streaming service.

The action thriller centered around the pursuit of the most wanted art thief in the world is the biggest feature film ever made by Netflix, and features Gadot alongside Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

The coronavirus pandemic has paralyzed Hollywood, forcing crews to stop production and shuttering movie theaters, so many big-budget films have been delayed.

Last month it was announced that Gadot’s much-anticipated “Wonder Woman 1984” which has been delayed several times due to the coronavirus pandemic, has yet again had its release pushed back.

The movie was originally set to hit theaters on June 5 before its release was delayed to August 12, then October 2, and now December 25.
Despite corona, Israeli firms raised whopping $7.6b so far in 2020
Despite the worldwide Covid crisis, Israeli companies have raised a cumulative $7.6 billion thus far this year, including a record $1.1 billion in August alone, according to Start-Up Nation Central.

That puts the country on track to meet or break the record $8.3 billion raised in 2019 as reported by Tel Aviv-based research company IVC-ZAG.

Some of the biggest investment rounds in the past nine months: insure-tech company Next Insurance raised $250 million, cybersecurity firm Snyk ($200 million), fintech startup Pagaya ($102 million), digital payments company Melio ($80 million), precision oncology company NovellusDX ($57 million), facial recognition company AnyVision ($43 million), payroll platform Papaya Global ($40 million) and robotic solar panel cleaning company Ecoppia Scientific ($40 million).

While investments in seed-stage companies are indeed down during the coronavirus pandemic, funding for more established companies has continued to rise.
Ancient Copper Smelting Workshop Unearthed in Be’er Sheva
A new study by Tel Aviv University and the Israel Antiquities Authority discovered one of the oldest copper production workshops in the world – in the Neve Noy neighborhood of Be’er Sheva.

The study has lasted several years, starting with the exposure of the workshop, in 2017, as part of archeological rescue excavations conducted by the IAA.

The new study also reveals that the site may have been the first of its kind in the world, using a sophisticated and revolutionary technology: the kiln.

The study was conducted by Dana Ackerfeld, Omri Yagel, and Prof. Erez Ben Yosef from the Yaakov M. Alkov Department of Archeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with Dr. Yael Abadi-Reiss, Talia Abulfiya, and Dimitri Yagorov of the IAA and Dr. Yehudit Haralvan of the Israel Geological Institute.

The results of the groundbreaking study are published Sunday in the prestigious Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (Firing up the furnace: New insights on metallurgical practices in the Chalcolithic Southern Levant from a recently discovered copper-smelting workshop at Horvat Beter).

According to the IAA director of the excavation, Talia Abulfiya, “the excavation revealed evidence of domestic industry from the Chalcolithic age – about 6,500 years ago. The surprising findings included, among other things, a small copper smelting workshop with fragments of crucibles – small bowls made of clay in which the copper was distilled, as well as many copper slag.”

The Chalcolithic, or Copper age is an archaeological period which researchers usually regard as part of the broader Neolithic, originally defined it as a transition time between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.


Yom Kippur War series 'Valley of Tears' releases promos ahead of premiere
An epic drama about the Yom Kippur War, Valley of Tears, the most ambitious television series in the country’s history, will premiere on KAN 11 on October 19 and the network released a handful of promos and teaser trailers on Sunday.

These previews give a glimpse of a multi-strand series that tells stories from this war that have never been dramatized before.

The 10-part series, which cost more than $1 million per episode, according to the website Deadline – a fortune in Israeli terms – is being released during the month that marks the 47th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. There have been relatively few films and television series in Israel about this war, save for a couple about the recovery of shell-shocked veterans, and nothing on this scale.

The series was co-created and written by Ron Leshem (Beaufort, Euphoria), Amit Cohen (False Flag) and Daniel Amsel. It was directed by Yaron Zilberman, who made the acclaimed 2019 film, Incitement, about Rabin’s assassin, Yigal Amir. Zilberman, Gal Zaid and Izhar Harlev were among the writers. The series was co-produced by United King Films, Endemol Shine Israel and the British company, WestEnd Films.

It stars some of Israel’s highest profile actors, along with several newcomers in a cast that includes Lior Ashkenazi (Walk on Water, Our Boys) as a radio reporter searching for his son (Lee Biran), Aviv Alush (Beauty and the Baker) as a Golani officer and commander of the security force at the Mount Hermon outpost and Joy Rieger (The Other Story, Virgins) as a soldier who stays behind to help her unit even though all the other female soldiers are evacuated.



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